[Quick piece, my apologies for not having time to put more flesh to this.]

The reason President Obama's last State of the Union address under whelmed so many is his lack of credibility. He lacked the energy so prevalent during his campaign, as if Obama himself doesn't much believe what he says either. Many pundits are guessing as to what Obama will say in his April 13th budget speech, however, the more important question truly is: What can be believed of what he says?

As a senator, Obama spoke out against raising the debt ceiling. Signs indicate he will now push to raise the debt ceiling. His handlers facing questions about this hypocrisy flippantly respond by saying, "he changed his mind." Not quite the type of steady, clear leadership encouraging of financial markets or individuals.

The once hypnotic pull Obama seemed to have over so many has lost strength.
The reality of Obama has kicked in. The idea of Obama is nothing like the real thing. How could someone so brilliant be presiding amongst so much chaos? Reasonable conclusions are: 1. He's not so brilliant. or 2. He wants chaos. These are hard realizations for someone who believed in and voted for Obama to make. These are however, the understandings those who did not vote for Obama pleaded with people to believe. Those on the right who never liked what Obama had to say, don't believe what he says now.

Obama will likely try to sound Reaganesque, even Bill Clintonesque as he talks budget. It appears his puppet masters are having some messaging quarrels. Consider that any cuts should be based on levels that existed before Obama ran up spending and government growth to previously unseen levels. It's no different from a store jacking up prices and luring you in with 75% off. 75% off of what? Fair retail pricing or triple retail pricing? A big discount on an over inflated price is not a credible deal. [I will try to cover in another posting, but wherever budget talks are taking place at local, state, and federal levels the protests about school cuts abound. I have to ask, is math being taught in the schools?]

When watching or listening to Obama talk about the budget on Wednesday:
• note if you believe what he says,
• observe if he looks or sounds like he believes what he's saying,
• consider if others believe him or not.